ATLANTA - Everyone who follows college basketball knows Duke. Maybe half those can tell you where Xavier is located or how to pronounce it properly.
Hoops royalty vs. hoops obscurity.
They are seemingly the oddest of couples.
But here they are, the Blue Devils, the top seed in the region, and the seventh-seeded Musketeers playing today at the Georgia Dome for a trip to the Final Four. Such a payday would be Duke's 14th overall and 10th in the past 19 seasons. Xavier never had advanced beyond the Sweet 16 before beating Texas on Friday.
A mismatch? Well, even if few realize it, the teams have much in common. They are guard oriented but need big games from their post players (Blue Devils sophomore Shelden Williams and Musketeers senior Anthony Myles). That brings us to experience.
It's not what you might think.
"Many of these guys have not played in a regional final," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. (The Blue Devils last made it this far in 2001, and senior point guard Chris Duhon is the only key player left from that team.) "I have coached in regional finales, but I have not coached this group in a regional final so that's when the past really is irrelevant.
"If we had gone the last couple of years or last year, then it is relevant. But the fact that our program has done it, I don't think makes that much of a difference. ... These kids are trying to achieve something they haven't done yet. Just like the Xavier kids are trying to achieve."
While the Musketeers quickly acknowledge a healthy respect for what Duke has done the past couple of decades, they have an impressive resume, too.
They have won at least 20 games for eight straight years and 11 of the past 12. They have made the postseason eight years in a row and have four straight NCAA appearances.
"The way I look at this game is, we have to start somewhere," coach Thad Matta said of building a reputation. "However many years ago, Duke was playing in its first game to get there."
Taking that big step to the Final Four might mean people finally would know where Xavier is.
"Is that in New Orleans?" senior point guard Lionel Chalmers, a native of upstate New York, said he is asked constantly. The small private school is nestled north of downtown Cincinnati.
And then there's the all-too familiar pronunciation as "X-avier."
"It used to be 50-50 and I think after this year it should be about 80-20 of people getting it right," Matta said. "We always say that the smart people know that it's not "X-ylophone' but "Zy-lophone.' Xavier's not for all people and they don't let people that cannot pronounce it in here and I'm not going to say where they go to school."
Most of all, neither he nor his players seem awestruck by the matchup. Duke may be Duke, but not it's not the Los Angeles Lakers.
"You have to understand, as much as people may think we're consumed with Duke, we're not changing the way we prepare, we're not changing our practices because of the name we're playing," Matta said. "There's no question about it, Duke is possibly the best team in the country and we know that. But we have a system of what we're doing and we feel confident."
His Musketeers are one of the hottest teams left, winners of their past nine, including victories against then-No.1 and undefeated Saint Joseph's and SEC regular-season champion Mississippi State in the second round of the NCAAs. Earlier in the season, they also overwhelmed Alabama.
"If you look at the teams they have beaten in the tournament, they are some great teams," Blue Devils sophomore guard J.J. Redick said. "They are really hot right now and maybe they are not supposed to be here, and they are really hungry, which makes them a very dangerous basketball team."
NOTE: Duhon, who fell hard late in Friday's win against Illinois, skipped the media session for extended treatment on his bruised ribs.
"Duhon is hurting some," Krzyzewski said, adding he hopes the extra therapy will "speed his recovery along where he will be able to go at a good pace" today.
